Just Like You
by AllisonHargreeves
Summary: There are some things Roy and Riza never wanted for their daughter but sometimes, parents just don't get a say. Nothing is ever set in stone, though. Post Brotherhood, Royai/Parental Royai


I haven't abandoned Frame by Frame, the AUs just keep turning into standalones somehow...enjoy!

AH

* * *

Roy rocked on his heels, hands behind his back, intently ignoring the soldier briefing him on the day's events. Eventually the man sighed and checked the time once again in an attempt to placate the Fuhrer.

"It's only a few minutes late, Your Excellency." He nodded, acknowledging as much. That didn't mean he had to be happy about it, and made a mental note to have Breda look into the setup of their side of international transit and LanFan on Xing's.

"There she is now." The young Colonel sighed in relief, Captain Mustang hadn't given him any tips on dealing with the Fuhrer when she left. Her only words of wisdom were that he could be 'difficult', to only give him his gloves if there was imminent danger, and any threats Roy made in the process were empty.

A grin replaced his ever growing scowl when he saw messy black hair tearing across the platform. Emma had already abandoned her security detail, leaving them sprinting to catch up as she ran at her father.

"Hi princess." He hugged her tightly, relieved to finally have her back in Amestris if only for a little while. "How was your trip?"

"Long. Boring. Bumpy. I don't know how Uncle Ed and Uncle Al did that all the time. But check it out-" she pulled a small lizard carefully from her coat pocket. "I found this on the train. Not sure what to name him yet." Not a lizard, Roy corrected himself, a salamander. Something not native to Xing, or really anywhere else outside the Western part of Amestris.

She cracked her neck, taking note of the scared man standing next to her dad. Emma tilted her head to the side, pretending to think. "Let me guess….he was ready to burn the station down after 30 seconds."

The soldier coughed in surprise, not sure how to respond. Emma smirked, a mirror of Roy with Riza's eyes. "That's what I thought. Where's mom?" Usually Riza met her when she came home for that exact reason. A single second delay and he started to run disaster scenarios.

She knew there was more to his worry than just being the Fuhrer's daughter but no one would tell her much. There were so many half stories floating around, pictures that were hidden and never explained... the only things she knew about the infamous Promised Day were what she could find in old newspapers or bully out of Sheska. The only thing her parents, and aunts and uncles, said were variations on 'when you're ready' or 'everyone deserves secrets' or 'they're doing what's best.'

Their excuses angered her more and more each year. She deserved to at least know why there was a huge scar across her mother's neck and wounds that went clear through her father's hands.

"She's doing your uncle and troublemaker cousins a favour."

"What'd they do this time?"

"Nothing your uncle Edward-didn't do when he was your age unfortunately." The difference between the 15 year old in front of him, and the pain in the ass kid couldn't be more different. _Thank god, too._ Edward and Winry's twin boys were just….two Edwards. Not quite as angry, but with more energy than should be physically possible. The thought brought on a smile every time. Now Fullmetal knew what it felt like when Roy had had to clean up his messes, though he didn't have to deal with two of him.

 _Karma._

They were angels when they stayed with Roy and Riza though, something he loved to rub in the younger man's face.

"I smell a story." She grinned. The tales about her uncle were literally legendary, but her dad had so many more entertaining ones the press missed. And those were ones she was actually "allowed" to hear. Usually.

"Nothing interesting, general alchemic mischief. I'm sure the damage is still easily visible. Hopefully not permanent, we need those roads. Told him to wait to teach them until they were older." He realized how off track he'd gotten; things hadn't exactly been quiet around Central and everyone, including him, was on high alert. Without Riza to steer him in any direction he tended to amble down trains of thought indefinitely.  
"What's May been teaching you lately?"

He loved to quiz her, to both learn more about alkahestry while sneakily finding out about what she'd been up to while she'd been away. The train ride must have been rougher than usual, it was taking forever to get more than a few syllables out of her once she was settled back into the seat.

"Aunt May and I figured out this amazing array. See, we usually throw the knives at the ground to activate the secondary array. But we worked it out so you can use it on a person instead of an object. You don't have to kill them but if you do it right you will. Uncle Alphonse mixed in some alchemy, which made it even more effective. Right now they're trying to work out avoiding needing the second array at all. I think with more work, we'd be able to take out a huge number of enemy soldiers in one shot." She grinned, making an explosion gesture in front of her.

Roy was speechless. When he looked over, Emma seemed simultaneously passive and happy. As his daughter gleefully discussed mass murder like a dedicated dog of the military. He steered away from questioning further...he needed talk to Riza about this before probing deeper. These...these weren't the values they had tried to teach her.

Instead of asking why the hell she wanted to kill anyone, he asked after Alphonse.

Emma caught him up on her studies the status of another set of extended family. She didn't notice that they were going to central command and not home until it was too late. She groaned in annoyance. "I just want to go home."

"It'll only be a minute, just waiting for your mom to finish up and then we'll head back. Plus, Rebecca wanted to see you, said you'd know what it was about." No one in Amestris had more 'extra' family than her but she didn't want to deal with any of them.

"Speaking of not-related-relations, can you _please_ tell the Emperor to calm down? It's bad enough having Amestrian soldiers pretending they're civilians but I could deal without the Xingese getting in on the act too. My entourage is as big as his." She thought Roy had agreed to let her study there because it was safe, their family being close with Emperor Yao's. And yet it felt like, and correctly, that there was always someone following her.

"I don't think Ling knows how to be calm, but I'll talk to him." And he fully intended to, but to thank him and tell him to keep up the good work.

"The hero returns!" Havoc grinned as the double doors opened and they stepped into the Fuhrer's main office. Everyone greeted Emma and she barely attempted to be upbeat. She accepted hugs but shrugged off questions. Roy felt bad and started to consider just sending her home if she was going to pout. It wasn't like her at all, at least, not usually. Something was wrong.

Riza was on the phone but her face lit up when she saw her daughter and kissed her forehead, motioning that it would only be a few seconds more until she was done. Emma settled down on a couch in the corner far away from everyone, laying back and closing her eyes. Everyone knew well enough to leave a cranky teenager alone. 99% of the time she had the temperament of Riza, but they didn't want to poke the 1% that was Roy.

She was drifting off when a series of crashes echoed down the hall. Gunfire and screams followed quickly, along with shouting in what sounded like Drachman. Roy's eyes darted to his daughter, who had barely moved from her spot. She was much too far away from him for him to breathe, let alone take care of his men. "Emma, come here." He commanded, trying to sound authoritative and not terrified. It didn't quite work. She waved the order away, not moving a muscle. Guns cocking echoed through the room as his men readied themselves.

"Emma!" Riza was just as alarmed, and received the same treatment. Havoc rushed to defend her when it became clear Emma wasn't going to do anything herself. Two of the guards appointed outside the Fuhrer's office careened through the doors, slamming them quickly behind them while attempting to construct a barricade.

"Your Excellency, there are-" Before he could finish a blast of light momentarily blinded everyone in the room. They heard shots and thuds, and then nothing more from their guards.

Each looked up in surprise, trying to blink the stars out of their eyes until their vision was clear again. Riza and Havoc had jumped up in tandem as soon as they heard the commotion outside, while Falman, Fuery, and Breda armed themselves only moments after. Everyone had weapons facing the entrance but Roy had never felt so helpless. He held his hands in front of him, barely centimeters apart, all of them preparing for whatever was coming for him.

Three men, covered in blood that was obviously not their own, walked casually through the open doorway and pointed their weapons directly at Roy. Before anyone could do anything, though, Emma snapped her fingers and three tall columns of flame erupted, blinding everyone again. When the light died down three charred, barely identifiable corpses lay in the entry. She still didn't move from her spot on the couch as she addressed her parents.

"Everyone ok?" As she lowered her hand, he saw what he thought was a tattoo on the inside of her arm...but that was impossible. That part of the array had been destroyed. He'd done it himself.

Roy was frozen, hands still midair. Her eyes. They were more than familiar, he'd seen them on Riza in Ishval. His little girl had the eyes of a killer but without the remorse of her mother or Hughes. She looked bored. She looked like...Kimblee.

"How… Emma, how did you…" He couldn't finish. She didn't even know about Riza's tattoo, no one alive did. How did she learn flame alchemy? And without any ignition gloves?

"I guess it's just in my blood." Emma smiled. "What did you expect? I thought you'd be proud of me, Dad. I'm just like you now."

"Roy!" Riza began to shake him harder. She'd been trying to wake him but hadn't succeeded. She had woken up herself when she felt his heart beating through his chest and through her back. It seemed like he was having a heart attack in his sleep and Riza started panicking when he wouldn't respond. He sat up with a start and let out a strangled half-scream, drenched in sweat.

"Breathe." She was forceful but calm while he took in a few desperate gulps of air. "You were dreaming, it wasn't real." Riza didn't ask what had happened; their nights were plagued by the past more often than not and had silently agreed to only talk about their nightmares if they were prepared to.

He looked at the time and the weak sun streaming through the window. Roy ran a hand through his hair, shuddering as he did.

"Felt so real." Riza smoothed his hair down again and kissed him.

"I know." They always felt real. At least it was pretty much time to get up, no matter how hard he tried he hadn't slept in on a Saturday for over 4 years.

Roy stood and pulled on a tshirt and robe on top of his pajama bottoms, leaning over and kissing Riza's hair. He felt bad if he'd woken her but she seemed to have been up for a little while...after all these years, he still couldn't fathom why she was unable to sleep late.

He meandered down the hall and paused at Emma's door before pushing it quietly open so he wouldn't wake her.

"Daddy!" Emma looked up at him with a bright smile, and he could feel his lips turning up to match his 4 year old's. She was sitting in the center of her bed, sorting through stuffed animals intently.

"Morning princess." He sat down on the side of her bed and she leapt, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Is Mommy awake too?" Roy nodded and she smiled again. He knew that face, that was pure mischief and they had been about 2 minutes away from her bursting in to wake them up.

 _Of course it wasn't real._ He had sworn his little girl would never have to live a life like her parents and there he was, dreaming it up anyway.

He hugged her again, breathing deep and trying to shake off the nightmare.

Riza stood in the doorway watching Roy. He hadn't been dreaming about Ishval like she'd assumed. She wondered what had happened to Emma. Those ones weren't unheard of, he'd had them since she'd gotten pregnant. Those were the nightmares he didn't talk about.

"Mommy! Can we go to the park today?" Riza sat down and Emma gave her a big hug and an exaggerated kiss. Roy put his arm around Riza's shoulders at the same time to keep them both close. He needed to know she was there; that they both were. Emma could see the hesitation on her mother's face and she turned to Roy instead.

"Daaaaddy?" She gave him the largest puppy eyes she could muster, already knowing he had an impossible time saying no.

Riza and Roy were well aware she was too smart for her own good, and the memory of her dark, cruel eyes crossed his mind once again. There was no killer there, though, just sweet, childlike concern and she frowned, pursing her small lips.

"You look sad." Emma went back to him, plopping in his lap and hugging him. They did their best to hide it but she could always tell, and did her best to comfort them. It was not the job a child was supposed to have, but whenever she decreed they looked sad, she insisted hugged them until they promised they were all better. It destroyed Roy to know she could see what they were feeling.

"How could I be sad when I have you and your mom?" He had his queen and his princess. No one was luckier than he was. "We can go to the park tomorrow, we're going to go see your Aunt Rebecca today." Riza was proud of Roy and willed him not to cave as Emma's face fell. He was complete clay in her hands. As soon as he said Rebecca's name though, Emma cheered up. The mood swings of a small child baffled them both.

"Auntie Becca!" She always snuck her candy when her mom and dad weren't looking. "I _guess_ that's ok."

Roy picked her up while he stood and tossed her in the air. Emma squealed happily telling him to do it again and he complied. "Well, now that we have your permission, your highness, I think it's time for breakfast."

"Pancakes!" She clapped and reached for Riza, Roy reluctantly letting her go and passing Emma to his wife. "Can I help, Mommy?"

She shifted Emma and leaned over to whisper in her ear. The girl nodded eagerly.

"Mommy says if you want to help you can pick the strawberries but you're not allowed to cook." Roy rolled his eyes at Riza. He wasn't a chef but he could at least handle most breakfast foods.

"Well then, let's get started, I don't know about you but I'm hungry." Riza kept the mood light and airy, not wanting Emma to pick up on whatever was haunting Roy.

"I'm going to go see if any of the strawberries are ready as you commanded, your royal highnesses."

"Wait!" Emma jumped out of Riza's arms and padded across the plush pink carpet to a toy box. She emerged from behind the box of toys, a sparkling purple crown in her hand. "You're royal too!" Roy bent down and let her place the trinket on his head.

"It seems that I am." He nodded, holding the crown in place while he did.

The family made their way down the stairs, Roy heading to the garden while his girls went to the kitchen. Riza balanced Emma on her hip while she grabbed everything she'd need. She'd become an expert at juggling, as had Roy. When she was born both were terrified of leaving her with anyone else so she spent her infancy at Central HQ.

When Riza was satisfied she had all the supplies she handed Emma a bowl and wooden spoon, sitting her on the counter at her side. She poured flour and water in, just enough to keep her busy while she worked on the eggs.

"Mommy?" Riza looked at her daughter with a smile.

"What is it sweetheart?"

"When do I get to get a brother?" Riza nearly dropped the egg in her hand, her eyes going wide. She was not ready for that one.

Roy looked through the kitchen window, watching Emma shriek with laughter while RIza tickled her. She hadn't been able to come up with an answer and went for distracting her instead. Riza caught Roy's glance, seeing him standing outside in his bathrobe, wearing a tiara and carrying a handful of strawberries. They smiled at each other, neither understanding how they had gotten so lucky, been allowed to be so happy.

Roy joined his family in the kitchen, dropping the berries into a bowl to rinse them off. "What's so funny?" Riza shook her head but it was too late for him to take the hint.

"I want a brother!" Roy gaped at her declaration like Riza had and then burst out laughing.

 _This._ This is what had driven him to alchemy, to the war, through the coup, to becoming the Fuhrer. He was still a General, but every day was a step closer to achieving his, or rather their, goal. He wanted to make the world a better place for her. And everyone else, but when teenage Roy swore to himself he'd make Amestris a peaceful country Riza had been at the forefront of his mind. In his wildest dreams, he couldn't imagine a life like this. Which, considering how much and how big he dreamed, was impressive. Now he had two reasons to ensure a peaceful future for Amestris and nothing was going to stop him.

He set the berries in a colander on the corner next to Emma which was a fatal mistake. By the time he had let Hayate out and tamed his hair, crown still secure, all the berries were gone and his daughter's fingered were stained red.

He stopped in his tracks but quickly shook it off.

 _Strawberries are red. Lots of things are. Not everything that's red is blood._ It sounded like a stupid thing to have to coach himself on, but there it was. That was the most red she was ever going to get on her hands

While they were without strawberries, Riza's pancakes, eggs, and bacon were more than sufficient. When Emma took a break from chatting about Uncle Jeans and Auntie Becca, Roy put his mug of coffee down and looked at her intently.

"Ems, what do you want to be when you grow up?" Riza would have sworn he didn't have an ulterior motive if she didn't know him better, or hadn't been there to see him pull out of his nightmares. Another piece...Emma in the future. She changed her mind about what she wanted to be at least once a week, last she checked, it was a ballerina. And Riza changed her mind as well...maybe she didn't want to know what Roy had seen.

Emma sat in silence for a moment, composing her thoughts like no other child they had met.

"Like Auntie Winry-I want to be nice and help people." She punctuated the statement with a firm nod. "Auntie Winry is even better than doctors! I want to be just like her!" Emma didn't understand automail beyond "Uncle Ed's leg" but she could tell by how other people acted that it was a big deal.

 _Automail_ _engineer._

He knew it was a dream but hearing that she wasn't interested in alchemy was comforting. She was too young and there were too many variables in play for him to feel totally secure.

"Done!" Emma pushed herself out of her chair and fell to the floor. It wasn't a far distance but Roy dropped to the ground even as she was getting up.

"Emma?" He checked her head and looked for signs of a concussion. Considering she hadn't hit her head, it was more than a little overkill. He couldn't be this way much longer but Riza hadn't been able to figure out how to get him to hover less, let alone tell him why he needed to. Emma squirmed away from him, insisting she had _meant_ to fall over.

"Why don't you go pick out what you'd like to wear today?." Emma grinned ear to ear. It was going to be the tutu. For the last 4 months she fought them whenever she had to put on anything else. Eventually they'd given up, caving to the whims of a 4-year-old.

"Ok!" Emma skipped a little over to Riza and kissed her cheek loudly. "You're the best mommy. And daddy too!" She added before racing up the stairs in anticipation of her trip to see Rebecca and Jean, whose name she never got quite correct. Roy wasn't about to stop her from calling him Uncle Jeans, though, and neither was Rebecca.

Roy and Riza began to clear the plates from the table, Roy drying what Riza washed to speed the process. When he reached for the dish in her hand, she didn't even acknowledge his presence.

"What's wrong?" She was looking out of the kitchen window, letting the tap run but not making a move towards the next plate in the sink. She spoke without looking at him, instead focused on the expanse of green outside.

"You have to be less overprotective, Roy. It's hard enough to get you to focus on anything other than us, and if you do the same for a second child, nothing will get done."

"Can't help it." he smiled. "Besides, we only have the one."

She paused before responding. "Maybe not now, but in about 7 months I'll prove you right."

His eyes widened. "Riza, are you…?"

"I found out when-" she didn't get a chance to finish. Roy let the plate in his hands drop to the counter and pulled Riza into his arms the moment he figured out what she was telling him.

He didn't know what to say. Hoping and knowing she understood how happy he was, even if words were beyond him. He kissed her, and then held her against him.

"Rize." The tone of his voice concerned her and she moved a little so she could see his face.

"Roy?" The intent was clear...she wanted to know what was wrong, and was even more nervous than before.

"I can't promise that I won't get any less protective." Riza shook her head and smiled. Of course not. He placed a hand on her still-flat stomach, completely in awe.

"So, not bad news then?" She'd been a little worried..they'd discussed never having children and had more or less made peace with the idea. When Emma came along, it was a surprise, but a welcome one. She wasn't so sure about a second time.

He tried to laugh, tried to say literally anything at all. Roy kissed her again instead, his forehead leaning against hers.

"Not bad news." He was still in shock. "The opposite. Why do we have to wait that long?" Riza smiled and shook her head, leaning into her husband's embrace. This was going to be a mirror image of Emma's birth, including explaining that even with alchemy, it was going to take 9 months until they met the new addition to their family.

"Ewww!" A flash of black hair and Emma was standing between them, keeping Roy from kissing Riza again. "Can we go now?" She was tutu-ed and ready to leave, unlike her parents.

Roy scooped her up in one arm, holding Riza tight with the other. He had no idea what he's done to deserve such a life.

"Emma, are you certain you want a little brother?" He could see Riza glare from the corner of her eye. He had been so sure their baby girl would be a boy as well.

She nodded enthusiastically, looking at them both from her spot on Roy's hip. "A sister would be ok too but a brother would play in the mud with me!" Edward and Winry's twins would be old enough to do that soon...Riza felt like she could already hear the chaos reverberate through the house.

And she wouldn't have it any other way.


End file.
